Officials at Mater hospital in Newcastle City, where the boy is being treated, said that the anti-venom was crucial to his survival.

"We had anti-venom in stock, we keep what's called polyvalent anti-venom and that covers all of our snakes," toxicologist Geoff Isbister told ABC News.

The Inland Taipan, described as shy and reclusive, can grow up to two metres long.

It is usually found in Australia's Northern Territory and Queensland, hundreds of miles away from the town of Kurri Kurri, on the coast to the north of Sydney, where the incident happened on Wednesday.

The police do not believe that the incident was related to a break-in at the nearby Hunter Valley Zoo on Sunday that saw the theft of four pythons and two alligators, the police statement added.

Judith Martin, from Hunter Reptile Rescue service, which handled the snake, told the BBC that it would be sent to a reptile breeding programme.